Learning Disability Wales

"Different system of care needed to deliver for the people of Wales" says expert panel

23 January 2018

Wales needs a different system which provides seamless health and care services – that’s the message from the independent review of Health and Social Care, chaired by Dr Ruth Hussey.

The new report makes a number of recommendations on how change
to the system can be supported and explains, in practical terms,
how to meet the challenges facing health and social care services
in the years ahead.

The panel's report includes a
renewed vision for health and social care in Wales, with action
guided by four mutually supportive goals:

improving the health and wellbeing of the population

improving the experience and quality of care for individuals
and their families

improving the wellbeing and engagement of the workforce

increasing the value achieved from the resources that are
invested in services.

The report, recommends bold new models of care with services
organised around the individual and their family, as close to home
as possible. It also emphasises that services need to be
preventative, easy to access and of high quality. They also
need to be seamless, and delivered without artificial barriers.

Dr Ruth Hussey, Chair of the review panel said: "The scale of
the challenge ahead should not be underestimated. It is clear that
change is needed and even clearer that this should happen
quickly.

"We have detected an appetite for change and a desire to 'get on
with it'. A strong commitment to transform not just how much
is done, but what and how it is delivered is needed. We hope that
this report will be a catalyst for the action that is needed, and
help to guide the future of health and social care in Wales."

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said: "This report, a key
commitment in Taking Wales Forward and Prosperity for All, sets out
some clear recommendations about what needs to change and how to
make those changes happen for the benefit of people in Wales.

"I'm pleased that report suggests that what we are already doing
in Wales with regard to the integration of health social care
services is right, but we will need to carefully consider the
findings of this review to see how this can be improved in the
future.

"The new long term plan for health and social care will be
published in the spring, taking account of recommendations in this
report. I'd like to thank Dr Hussey, her team and everyone who has
contributed. I welcome the continued cross party support for the
review.

"I believe that what we have seen today from the panel will set
firm foundations for the future of health and social care in Wales
for many years to come."